Observation/Reflection #4 - What Was the Question? This week, try to pay attention to how your teacher asks questions and facilitates discussion in his or her classes. What types of questions does your CT ask? Are most of the questions asking students to relay facts or textbook definitions (recall) or to apply a concept to a new situation or compare it to another concept (application or analysis). Does your teacher ever encourage his or her students to be critical or skeptical? If so, when and how? Does your CT ever ask students to provide evidence to support a claim or explain their thinking? Does your teacher facilitate classroom discussion so that students are expressing scientific ideas to other students? Finally, does your CT vary the type of questions he or she asks depending on the level of the class, or the perceived ability of the student? Remember to reflect on what types of classroom discourse you want to foster in your classroom, how you will go about doing this, and why. Observation Mr. Bentley Use’s questions to make lecture style classes more interesting, to ensure students are paying attention and even to answer questions if it is at all possible. Mr. Bentley starts every class by asking questions about the last class to engage prior knowledge these questions tend to be simple recall questions with a higher-level analysis type question mixed in occasionally.When presenting new material Mr. Bentley commonly asks questions such as “what does this remind you of” which forces students to link concepts.At the end of the class Mr. Bentley tends to have a single question, which will link the day’s lesson to the previous lessons.These questions tend to be higher level and for students to first synthesis the day’s lesson then apply it to prior knowledge.Such questions are never one word answer instead Mr. Bentley uses a serous of guiding statements and questions to get the whole class to formulate a proper response.Mr. Bentley does stop the discussion occasionally to emphasize major points so students know for the test. Reflection I really enjoy Mr. Bentley’s style of teaching through inquiry and have noticed that it has many advantages in the classroom.Mr. Bentley has no problems with students being distracting in his classroom because the questions foster discussion and on occasion debate.These debates tend to involve the whole class and when someone stops paying attention or understanding the lesson, you can use a serious of questions with that person to get them back on track.Though I believe this style of teaching would be affective in any classroom, it is essential to a science class.Science is all about asking questions challenging and disproving theories and debate.I believe as a science teacher that your students should learn of the first day that there are many ways to skin a cat.In science there is almost never one answer to a problem and it is even the case that you can have two correct answers that disagree with each other.Students all learn that science is about observations, what I believe questions in the classroom provide student understanding of the playroom interpretation offers.
This week, try to pay attention to how your teacher asks questions and facilitates discussion in his or her classes. What types of questions does your CT ask? Are most of the questions asking students to relay facts or textbook definitions (recall) or to apply a concept to a new situation or compare it to another concept (application or analysis). Does your teacher ever encourage his or her students to be critical or skeptical? If so, when and how? Does your CT ever ask students to provide evidence to support a claim or explain their thinking? Does your teacher facilitate classroom discussion so that students are expressing scientific ideas to other students? Finally, does your CT vary the type of questions he or she asks depending on the level of the class, or the perceived ability of the student? Remember to reflect on what types of classroom discourse you want to foster in your classroom, how you will go about doing this, and why.
Observation
Mr. Bentley Use’s questions to make lecture style classes more interesting, to ensure students are paying attention and even to answer questions if it is at all possible. Mr. Bentley starts every class by asking questions about the last class to engage prior knowledge these questions tend to be simple recall questions with a higher-level analysis type question mixed in occasionally. When presenting new material Mr. Bentley commonly asks questions such as “what does this remind you of” which forces students to link concepts. At the end of the class Mr. Bentley tends to have a single question, which will link the day’s lesson to the previous lessons. These questions tend to be higher level and for students to first synthesis the day’s lesson then apply it to prior knowledge. Such questions are never one word answer instead Mr. Bentley uses a serous of guiding statements and questions to get the whole class to formulate a proper response. Mr. Bentley does stop the discussion occasionally to emphasize major points so students know for the test.
Reflection
I really enjoy Mr. Bentley’s style of teaching through inquiry and have noticed that it has many advantages in the classroom. Mr. Bentley has no problems with students being distracting in his classroom because the questions foster discussion and on occasion debate. These debates tend to involve the whole class and when someone stops paying attention or understanding the lesson, you can use a serious of questions with that person to get them back on track. Though I believe this style of teaching would be affective in any classroom, it is essential to a science class. Science is all about asking questions challenging and disproving theories and debate. I believe as a science teacher that your students should learn of the first day that there are many ways to skin a cat. In science there is almost never one answer to a problem and it is even the case that you can have two correct answers that disagree with each other. Students all learn that science is about observations, what I believe questions in the classroom provide student understanding of the playroom interpretation offers.